Furnace blower housing with integrally formed exhaust transition

Abstract

A furnace blower housing has a two-piece exhaust transition, one piece of which is an integral extension of the blower housing, that transitions a rectangular cross section outlet of the blower housing to a circular cross section outlet of the exhaust transition that is adapted to be attached to a circular exhaust pipe.

Description

[0001]This patent application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 09 / 930,016 filed Aug. 15, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,595,146 which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09 / 651,645 filed Aug. 30, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,894.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002](i) Field of the Invention[0003]The present invention relates in general to blower housings used in furnaces to remove the products of combustion and particularly to the exhaust transition of the blower housing. The blower housing includes an integrally formed portion of the exhaust transition and is of a two-piece construction.[0004](ii) Description of the Related Art[0005]Furnaces utilize a blower to induce a draft through the furnace to draw the heated air and the products of combustion through a heat exchanger and exhaust them through an exhaust pipe. The blower housings used in prior art furnaces are typically made of sheet metal and have an exhaust port that is rectangular. However, the exhaust pipe to which the blo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of prior art cast aluminum transition pieces by providing an exhaust transition having a portion that is integrally formed with the blower housing and is of a two-piece construction that is considerably less expensive to manufacture. The exhaust transition is also less likely to rattle and requires less labor to assemble.

[0014]The two piece blower housing and exhaust transition of the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art. The invention provides for one of the exhaust transition sections to be part of the body. This piece is formed when the body is stamped and is formed of the same material as the body. Additionally, the second piece is also preferably formed of the same material as the body. Because the body is typically made of sheet metal, the first and second pieces of the exhaust transition are also made of sheet metal, which is significantly less expensive than the prior art transition pieces which are made of cast aluminum. The two pieces of the exhaust transition can be attached to one another by crimping one to the other. The crimping provides for a tight connection that will resist rattling better than the prior art use of sheet metal screws in attaching the transition piece to the body. Finally, the process of crimping is less labor intensive and further reduces the costs of manufacturing the housing over that of the prior art.

Problems solved by technology

Cast aluminum exhaust transition pieces are expensive to manufacture and increase the costs of the blower assembly and the associated furnace within which the blower assembly is utilized.

Because the exhaust transition piece is attached to the exhaust port for the blower housing by screws, the labor to attach the transition piece adds to the cost of the blower assembly.

Furthermore, because the exhaust transition piece is only secured to the blower housing by three or four screws, the connection often becomes loose over time and the exhaust transition piece may rattle or produce undesirable noise when the blower is being run.

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